and the military-continue to press for
interpretations and amendments that will
favor their ends.
By all accounts the BLM has done a com
mendable, even heroic job of ameliorating
conflict in putting the plan to work. Gerry
Hillier, the articulate and energetic manag
er of the BLM's desert district, has not only
gotten opposing interests to work out their
differences, but has also gotten this least
known of the federal land-management
agencies more involved with the general
public using the desert. Previously, the
BLM dealt almost exclusively with mining,
grazing, and logging interests in the West.
CaliforniaDesert, A Worldly Wilderness
A wink of neon in the night, Brady's
Cafe on Highway 395 nearInyokern has
sold food and gas to travelerspushing
out into the desert since 1938. "We're
even on the maps the service stations
give out," says owner Harvey Welfl. The
Mobil flying-horse sign, a collector's
item, is one of afew still in use.
Few, however, see a bright future ahead.
The population of the Los Angeles-San
Diego area continues to grow and to make
increasing demands on the desert. Vandal
ism and theft persist. According to the
BLM, roughly one-third of the desert's pre
historic sites have been damaged, and about
one percent of its prehistoric artifacts disap
pear each year. With its small staff-only 21
BLM rangers patrol the agency's 12 million
acres-the BLM says it can't keep up with
these and other problems-overgrazing,
mining violations, illegal dumping, and the
spread of introduced species like the burro
and tamarisk, both of which drive out local
animals and plants. Finally, in 1985 Con
gress gave the BLM only 26.2 percent of the
operating funds it requested to administer
the plan.
"It doesn't take a smart man to see what's
wrong," cattleman and longtime resident
Gary Overson told me one afternoon at his
Kessler Springs Ranch in the eastern Mo
jave. "But it'll take a smart man to fix it."
In several months of travel and interviews
in the desert I met no such Solomon. But the
threads of wisdom-what to do to ensure the
longevity of this unique part of North Amer
ica-did become clear. The gist of nearly ev
ery thoughtful conversation I had was the
same: a need for public education, develop
ing an abiding regard for the land itself, and
finding some way-public or private-to
come to the aid of the BLM.
Mine was seen to in part by a young
man named Bruce Bannerman, a
biologist at the University of Cali
fornia's study center in the Granite
Mountains. The lanky and blond Banner
man and I were walking down a dirt road
one brilliantly clear morning, and he made a
sweeping gesture to the south and east.
"Where else," he beamed, "can you count 26